Yesterday, the Braves sent Scott Thorman back to Richmond. It’s an interesting move, but understandable given available options, injuries, and the horrendous pitching. But, when looking at the stats, I also noticed this:

Thorman: .255/.290/.461/.751
Francoeur: .256/.281/.447/.728

Wednesday, August 16th, 2006,
by JC and is filed under "Braves ".
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I agree with Mac. The Braves should probably try to beef up the offense; their only chance is to outscore the opposition. Given the pathetic examples of so-called pitchers they have, leave Thorman up and make do with fewer pitchers.

As for Francoeur, that horse is long out of the barn. He ain’t going down no matter what. After all, he leads the league in two-out RBIs and Chip Carey thinks that experts are idiots. That’s enough for me. And, how could you send a guy to the minors that can hit the ball to other continents? -:)

Since it looks like Diaz in LF and LaRoche fulltime at first and Thorman had options he was picked. He had no place to play. Of course he doesn’t have anything to prove in AAA either so I guess that being a light hitting middle infielder is better if you’re a Brave.

The thing that bothers me the most about Jeff Francoeur’s season is that he has already earned the position for next season. Oh well a sporadic right fielder is the least of this team’s problems.

Unfortunately the Braves are in a lose-lose situation because they brought up Francoeur so early last season. Keep him in the bigs, and he’ll probably play like this for years until either Chipper or his roommate bops him on the head and makes him read Moneyball. For that matter, let’s lock JS and Francoeur in a room to both read Moneyball. OR, the Braves can send Francoeur to AAA where he offensively belongs, creating a P.R. nightmare b/c the casual baseball fans in Atlanta adore Jeff.

Aside from the Thorman/Frenchy comparison, the Braves would have been better off if Pena or Orr had been sent down. (Orr may be out of options.) What’s the point of keeping two feather-swinging middle infielders on the team? Keeping Thorman would have provided more pop off the bench. Instead the bench consists of Pena, Orr, Pratt, and Langerhans. That’s almost lousy enough to make one pine for the good old days of Keith Lockhart and Brian Jordan.

Well, I must say, he’s better than Langerhans, and a Diaz/Thorman platoon would be a decent temporary solution at left. I just don’t get what Langerhans has to offer at this point as anything but a backup center fielder, and I’m not convinced that Francoeur doesn’t have the chops to handle center in a pinch.